FINDING PASTORS

On of the duties of a pastor in the Lutheran Church is to "seek out and encourage qualified persons to prepare for the ministry of the gospel." Boy, can this ever cause sleepless nights, and I'm not even very good at doing it. Some people familiar with Christianity might wonder why anyone would have to "seek out" persons for the ministry. Aren't people "called" to the ministry by God. Well, yes, but how does that call come. The Bible is filled with dramatic stories of persons called to serve God: Moses and the burning bush, Samuel and the voice in the night, Isaiah and the vision in the Temple, Paul and the appearance of Jesus on the Damascus road. Yet most clergy I have known never have that sort of experience. Many of them were sought out by others and encouraged to pursue the ministry. As I have discussed in another blog, I didn't even have that. I had to try to figure things out for myself.

Figuring out what a "qualified person" might be is hard. In my denomination (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) there is a whole processes for figuring out who is qualified, but the beginning point is often a local parish pastor like myself. So what do I look for? First, an expression of faith. That doesn't mean a blind acceptance of doctrine without question. To be sure, the better pastors are ones who have struggled with believing. What I look for is a person who takes their faith seriously, that is finds in their faith a source of their values and purpose in life. Without this element there is no reason even to think about ministry as a possibility.

The other personal characteristics I look for in a person vary somewhat, but have to be their to some degree. A person needs to have the intellectual prowess to complete seminary training. By the time they are finished, they'll have to know systematic theology, historical theology, biblical studies, and the practical fields of pastoral care, Christian education, worship, and preaching. A person also needs a level of emotional stability and maturity to be a pastor. They need a willingness to work hard, often in difficult situations (including difficult people). A sense of humor wouldn't hurt, either. If you take yourself too seriously, you'll be overcome. I like to tell prospective candidates for the ministry that most churches would turn down St. Peter or St. Paul as a pastor because they weren't enough like beloved old Pastor Hackemeier who ministered for 39 years in the same church.

In 30 years of ministry I have only come across one person I actively sought out to consider ministry as a calling. I don't know how that will work out yet. Time will tell. I have, however, encouraged a number of people who have already come to consider the ministry. I didn't seek them out, but somehow they came across my path so I did everything I could to support and encourage them. I have also come across a few people who I wasn't quite sure about. They were people who were considering the ministry, but I felt some unease about the possibility of them actually becoming clergy. Because of my uncertainty, I felt it was necessary to encourage them to go ahead with the discernment process so that they could have the insight of other people in determining their call. In most cases they were never ordained, most of them never getting even as far as starting seminary. My instincts proved to be right, but I think you have to err on the side of grace so you don't discourage one who may turn out to have the necessary gifts and calling. Sometimes a person who at 20 doesn't seem to have it together enough to be a pastor matures over the course of years so that maybe by 30 or 40 they are ready. You don't want to close off that possibility.

There have been two types of situations, however, where I actively discouraged people from pursuing ministry. In the first type of situation, the person has severe emotional or psychiatric problems that would make it impossible for them to function in the ministry. It is one of the sad things in life that some mental disorders express themselves in religious terms. People sometimes have psychotic episodes in which they believe God is speaking to them. So it is important to try to listen to a person and observe their behavior to determine as best as possible the root of a person's desire. Several times I have talked with women convinced that God was calling them to be missionaries in far off lands. They want to leave for the mission field as soon as possible without their husband and small children. Suggesting to them that caring for their children might be God's true call for that time in their life is often met with stony disbelief.

The other circumstance that I have found troubling has been when someone wants to be a pastor without having to go to seminary to study. They believe they should be ordained with no training. Sometimes they even have the church picked out that they are convinced they should be assigned to. I am a firm believer that a four-year bachelor's degree followed by four years of seminary training is essential. In recent years I have become uneasy with the increasing number of people being trained for ordained ministry by some alternate method that doesn't require so much work. I am not sure that's a good way to solve the clergy shortage.

Of course that is part of the reason we clergy are charged seeking our and encouraging persons to prepare for the ministry of the Gospel. As St. Paul wrote to the Romans: "'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?" So I'll keep seeking and encouraging. It's part of my journey.

May the Lord God bless you on your way and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne